Latest Europe Headlines
All the headlines from our Europe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Willis Re Reports on Impact of ‘RMS v11’ European Windstorm Model Changes
Jun 18 2012 // A report from Willis Re notes that “UK insurers may see increases of up to 97 percent in their capital requirement for catastrophe exposures under Solvency II rules when making calculations under the new Risk...
Oil Market Shrugs at Imminent Iran Tanker Insurance Ban
Jun 18 2012 // In less than two weeks, Iran’s biggest oil buyers will lose access to the London-based insurance market that protects 95 percent of the world’s tanker shipments against oil spills or catastrophic...
Greek Pro-bailout Parties Look to Forge Coalition
Jun 18 2012 // Political parties supporting Greece’s international bailout begin forging a government on Monday after an election victory over radical leftists staved off the prospect of the debt-laden country leaving the euro and...
Economic Crisis Challenges Harmonization of U.S. Regulations, EU’s Solvency II
Jun 18 2012 // The EU’s Solvency II regulations get most of the headlines, but there are other regulatory bodies, which are trying to modernize and harmonize the regulations for global insurance companies. Their task has been made...
World Economies Prepare for Panic after Greek Elections
Jun 15 2012 // Authorities in the world’s major economies are preparing for a possible market storm or public panic after cliffhanger Greek elections this weekend, officials said on Thursday, should radical leftists win and cast...
Report: Japan to Pass Bill to Insure Iran Oil Imports
Jun 14 2012 // Japan’s lower house is set to pass a bill on Friday to provide government guarantees on insurance for Iranian crude cargoes, making it the first of Iran’s big Asian buyers to find a way to keep the oil flowing...
German Chancellor Merkel Rejects ‘Miracle Solutions;’ Spain’s Debt Costs Soar
Jun 14 2012 // Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuffed pressure on Thursday for Germany, Europe’s most powerful economy, to underwrite debt or guarantee bank deposits in the euro zone, as Spain’s soaring borrowing costs raised new...
Arch Re Europe Announces Leadership Team Reorganization
Jun 13 2012 // Arch Reinsurance Europe Underwriting Limited announced that Maamoun Rajeh will be appointed as the company’s President and CEO as of July 1, 2012. He will succeed Helmut Söhler, who will assume the position of Vice...
U.S. Exempts India, Other Countries, Not China, from Iran Sanctions
Jun 12 2012 // The United States extended exemptions from its tough, new sanctions on Iran’s oil trade to seven more economies on Monday, leaving China the last remaining major importer exposed to possible penalties at the end of...
Deeper Euro Zone Integration to Take Time Says EU Commissioner Rehn
Jun 12 2012 // Tightening fiscal integration in the euro zone and surrendering more sovereignty in the name of deeper cooperation between member states may be possible only in the medium term, the EU’s top economic official said on...
Analysis: EU’s Spain Bank Rescue May Bring only Brief Respite
Jun 11 2012 // Euro zone finance ministers rushed Spain into an EU-funded rescue for its debt-stricken banks to pre-empt the threat of a bank run if Greece’s debt crisis flares again but any respite for Madrid and the euro may be...
EU Insurers Still Coming to Terms with Solvency II as Start Date Nears
Jun 8 2012 // “Over the next 18 months it’s estimated that Ireland will spend 100 million euros (app. $125 million) on preparations for Solvency II (SII),” said Garvan O’Neill, a partner in...
U.S. to Issue More Waivers on Iran Sanctions Next Week
Jun 8 2012 // The United States will announce a new list of countries that will receive exceptions to financial sanctions on oil trade with Iran as soon as early next week, a government official said on Thursday. Not all of Iran’s...
Best Maintains AVIVA and Subs Ratings Under Review; Negative Implications
Jun 7 2012 // A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited has reviewed and maintained the under review status of the financial strength ratings of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a+” of the...
Best Announces Further Rating Actions on Euro Zone Insurers
Jun 7 2012 // A bulletin from A.M. Best notes that the rating agency has “been actively monitoring the financial crisis and its effects on European countries, stress-testing the balance sheets of (re)insurers against their...
Traynor Joins Greenlight Re Ireland to Build UK, Europe Expansion
Jun 7 2012 // Greenlight Reinsurance Ireland, Ltd., a subsidiary of Cayman Islands-based Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd., a specialist property and casualty reinsurer, announced that Caryl J. Traynor officially joined the company on June 1,...
Ratings Recap: Dubai Insurance, Legal & General, London General
Jun 6 2012 // A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘B++’ (Good) and issuer credit rating of “bbb” of the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai Insurance Company...
Will There Ever Be a United States of Europe?
Jun 6 2012 // From recent news you will have learned that the euro zone crisis continues to be the 700 pound gorilla in the room of the global economy. It’s become increasingly clear that, whatever happens in Greece on June 17,...
Economic Storm Clouds Continue to Gather over Europe
Jun 6 2012 // In many ways Ireland is a “microcosm for Europe,” said Danny McCoy, the Director General of the Irish Business & Employer’s Confederation (IBEC) at the EIF Forum. He described the present situation as...
Irish ‘Yes’ Vote Assures Continued Support; Euro Zone Crisis Still Weighs
Jun 5 2012 // Ireland held a referendum on Thursday, May 31 – a straight yes or no vote on whether the country would write the “Stability Treaty,” the austerity measures agreed to last fall by the 17 euro zone countries,...
